I’m sure I’m not the only mum around, who is on a constant quest to find nutricious food to fill their family THAT THEY WILL EAT! We have the added pressure of Miss M who does long periods of exercise at synchro/swimming at least 5 times per week. I farily renowned for always having some food item in my handbag but it seems at the moment that I never have the right thing or not enough of it.

I know that oats are very good for releasing energy slowly and had it in my mind to conquer flapjacks once and for all. My last few attempts were considerably short of successful, which by process of elimination, I put down to using the wrong type of tin. I went out and bought a silcone ‘tin’ with a solid surround to help the flapjacks hold their shape and set to on my mission to get the Costellos eating flapjacks.

I will admit to the tin hanging around the house for a few weeks, then last week the people at Sainsbury’s Bank Food Blogger’s Network emailed to challenge me to take on their flapjack challenge. I had to bake flapjacks using their ingredients and they would send me a voucher to cover my costs. Challenge on!

I’m not a massive fan of overly syrupy flavours so decided on maple syrup with pecans. I’m no fool though, and realise that on their own they don’t look immensely appealing to the kids – so sprinkled grated white chocolate on for that snow-topped effect. They are fantastic! Still squidgy and chewy but solid enough to hold their shape. Tasty with the added maple syrup but not too sweet due to the nuts.

Here’s how you can make your own:

Ingredients

250g Porridge Oats

Large handful Pecan nuts chopped as small as you like

130g Butter

Good Glug (about 4 tbsp) maple syrup

100g soft brown sugar (I used dark)

100g White Chocolate – I blitzed it in the food processor but chopped finely or grated is fine

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C

Put sugar, butter and maple syrup in a pan and warm gently until all melted and mixed together.

Take off the heat and add the oats. Mix together.

Add the pecan nuts – I added about 1/3 of the white chocolate and mixed this through too at this point but you can leave it all until the flapjack is cooked if you prefer.

Grease the silicone ‘tin’ if you have one – Mine is a 9″ square so the flapjack mix isn’t that deep.

Fill the ‘tin’ and press down so the mix covers the bottom equally.

Cook for about 15-20 mins.

When the mix is still hot and still in the ‘tin’, cut into rectangles (I got 12 out of mine) and sprinkle the remainder of the white chocolate over the flapjack.